Start of the Emperors
by Matarra
Summary: The barian's birth and childhood. Rated for language and my paranoia.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh Zexal. ****Please don't sue.**

Dumon looked at Mach. His fellow knights corrupted with the promise of power stood around the knight and his pegasus. Mach whinnied with pain as a knight stabbed him. Dumon wished he could ease his companion's pain. But when he opened his mouth to speak some reassuring words, blood filled his mouth. He didn't know what he would say anyway. A knight, once a friend of his, stabbed Dumon through his heart and it was over. Everything slowed down. Dumon didn't even remember closing his eyes. 'Goodbye Mach.' he thought before he died.

…...

For a long time, Dumon felt nothing. Then he felt like he was alive. His mind was foggy. "Wha- what? Where am I?" he 'mind-spoke'.

"Dumon?" a female voice called out.

"Merag! But you're dead! Well I guess I am too..."

"What! You died? When did that happen?" Nasch asked in alarm.

"You're here too, Nasch? Well to answer your question, my fellow knights went all psycho and stabbed Mach and me to death." Dumon replied with some bitterness at the end.

"Is that some anger I hear, Dumon?" Merag called teasingly.

"Maybe a little." If Dumon had a mouth he would have smiled. Merag could make something like his death a little less depressing.

"So what is this? We don't have bodies of any sort." Nasch mused.

"How should I know? Heaven's waiting line?" Merag replied.

"If that was true, I probably wouldn't be here." said an all too familiar voice.

"Vector?! What the hell are you doing here?" cried the three in unison.

"Hoping this isn't hell. Either you guys screwed up big time or I am not damned." Vector replied snarkily.

"No, you are damned. And we didn't screw up, so that rules out the afterlife." Nasch said.

Dumon got an idea. "If we are all here, do you think there are others? You know, wherever here is."

"Maybe. Vector get this straight, I hate your guts. But for now, let's have a truce." Nasch said.

"Fine, fish-head." Vector called back.

"I wish I had a body so I can strangle you." Nasch growled.

Vector started laughing like the psychopath that he is, so Dumon and the two siblings started to call out for other people. In the end, they found three others. Their names were Misael, Alit, and Gilag.

Misael was a dragon-tamer, Alit was a gladiator, and Gilag was a samurai general. They began to talk a lot together. Misael and Dumon became good friends and Dumon came to respect and treat all the others, even Vector, like family. Alit and Gilag became best buds. Nasch and Merag remained close. Vector annoyed everyone, especially Misael and Nasch. One day, or what was classified as a day since there was no way of knowing the time, Dumon began to feel like he had limbs again. At first he thought he was imagining things until Alit brought it up.

"Hey, anyone else feel like they have a body?" Alit asked.

Everyone replied yes and Alit and Gilag let out a cheer. "Yes we live again!" Gilag cried out.

"Not so fast Gilag. We have no idea what are bodies will be like or how much time has passed since we died. It could be just a few years of centuries." Merag cautioned.

"I understand your concerns for the second part, but I don't get what you mean by the first." Dumon said.

"From what you can feel of your body, doesn't it seem a little... different?"

The others had to admit that it did feel a little different. But then again, as Dumon pointed out, they haven't had a body for a while so maybe they just weren't used to having their bodies again.

…...

As time went by, the seven felt their bodies growing and changing. They assumed their bodies were growing back to the age they were when they died. They were a little nervous something might be wrong with their bodies, but to avoid panic nobody talked about it. Until Vector started complaining about his back.

"Arghhh! My back feels like there's something pushing out of it!" Vector groaned in pain.

"This better not be a trick, Vector..." Merag warned.

"I am completely serious! Ohhhh the pain!" Vector's groan turned into an all out scream of pain. Everyonewas shocked and afraid. They knew Vector well enough to tell that he would not even cry out unless the pain was utterly unbearable. And the fact that something was happening to his body that could cause him so much pain was terrifying to everyone.

Nasch tried to contain the panic. "Everyone, do not panic! It won't do any good since we can't stop whatever is happening to us. We need to keep a cool head and prepare for anything." The way Nasch said it made everyone calm down. "Soon we will be awake and can deal with the situation but for now let's just relax." Everyone agreed and attempted to push the matter to the back of their minds but traces of fear still lingered in all of them.

…...

More time passed and soon the seven were beginning to feel more at home in their bodies. Something still felt off but they couldn't put a finger on it. And there was a bigger problem that they could put a finger on.

"Why the heck are we kids?!" Misael cried.

Yep, they could all tell how old their bodies were. And none of them were happy about it.

"Just be thankful we're going to be alive again. We could be dead permanently. So quit whining." Merag rebuked Misael. Misael pouted but remained silent and did not complain anymore. Suddenly, Dumon felt like he was alive.

"Everyone I think it's time for us to wake up!" Dumon exclaimed.

"But we are awake." Alit said.

"I think he means in our bodies." Merag corrected him.

"Oh... well sweet! And we'll be kids so I can act however I want and people can't tell me to act my age! Woohoo!" There was an awkward moment of silence. "What?" Alit asked.

Before anyone could say anything else, all seven were suddenly forced into their bodies and all communication between them was ceased. Dumon tried to open his eyes. He felt the barrier around him weaken. He tried again and this time, with a sound of shattering glass, the red crystal around him shattered. He saw his entire life flash before him in the crystal shards, then it was gone and so was his memory. He blinked and took a wobbly step. All around him were other children of around the same age as him. Suddenly there was a yelp and a crash followed by many loud thuds. Dumon looked in the direction of the noise and saw a young barian child lying at the bottom of some stairs. 'Wait a second, what's a barian?' Dumon thought. He knew the word, but it did not sound familiar.

"Owwww." whimpered the small, red child at the foot of the stairs. Another child ran down to help the red barian. This one was solidly built and had a green took a look at his surroundings. He was in a cave lined with red crystals, on a platform at the top of a flight of stairs. Below the platform, there was a tunnel. There were four others around him. The two at the bottom of the stair climbed back up to make a total of six others. They quickly introduced themselves. The one who had fallen down the stairs was Alit. The one with the Mohawk was Gilag. Another one with long, golden hair was Misael. One named Vector had small, black, cherub-like wings. The only female of the group was called Merag, and the purple one with hair that looked vaguely like tentacles was named Nasch. He felt extreme deja-vu but quickly brushed it off.

"So, what now?" Gilag asked.

"We explore, obviously!" Merag replied. Just then a short barian wandered in. His eyes widened and he looked hysteric.

"Oh me, oh my! You're awake! You weren't suppose to wake up for another three days. Ok, ok, don't panic, Bordoc, don't panic. All of you stay right here. Don't go anywhere! I need to get the elders. Stay right there!" The short barian, apparently Bordoc, ran away from the seven calling back to remind them not to go anywhere. When they couldn't hear him anymore, the young barians looked at each other.

"Oooookay... that was weird." Dumon said.

"So, what now?" Gilag asked again.

"You just asked that exact same question two minutes ago!" Misael exclaimed.

"Well, it needed to be asked again." Gilag defended himself.

"But the answer has not changed. We will still explore this place. I will anyway. Why should we listen to someone who just popped up and looked like he was about to wet himself? Anyone who wishes to follow me is free to do so." Nasch stood up and walked to the edge of the first step leading down.

The others quickly fell into line behind him. "I'm with you all the way." Merag said

"I will follow you to the ends of the earth." Dumon swore.

"We do need a leader and you're better than than anyone else here. Except maybe for Dumon, but he seems content to follow you so I will too." Misael said as he stepped behind Nasch.

"I'm in! Let's go poke our noses where they don't belong!" Alit cheered. Everyone looked at him, but he seemed oblivious.

"I'm in." Gilag stated.

"Like I'm going to do what a pipsqueak that popped out of nowhere and looked like he would lose a fight with a twig tells me." Vector snorted and fanned his wings.

Nasch nodded in appreciation at his comrades. "Alright then, let's go he walked down the steps and through the tunnel with the others following close behind.

******Alright, so how was it? More will get explained in the next chapters, like who exactly the elders are.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh Zexal**

Nasch and the other six walked down the dimly lit tunnel. They had been walking for half an hour.

"How much longer does this tunnel go on?" Gilag asked.

"How the hell should we know?" Misael retorted.

"Quiet down! Someone's coming." Merag hissed. The seven children ran behind a crystal.

"How could our calculations be wrong? They were supposed to wake up in three days. How could we have been off by so much?"

"It doesn't matter right now! We need to find them before they start to wander."

"Well, guess who came a little late for both of those things." Nasch walked out from behind the crystals followed by the other children. The two adult barians started and whirled to face the seven children.

"Bu-but Bordoc told you to stay near where you woke up!" exclaimed the barian with dark gray skin, brown hair, and black markings.

Vector spat on the floor "Renegade for life."

"Your life has consisted of 45 minutes!" Misael yelled.

"Calm down, young emper- I mean, children. We are two of the three emperors. I am Mirach. My companion and fellow elder is Sadal." explained the barian with orange skin, yellow hair, and purple-blue markings.

"Yeah, yeah. Just answer our questions, who are the elders and what are barians?" asked Merag.

"Oh, my apologies. The name of our species is barian. The elders are the leaders of half of Barian World and we will be your caretakers, teachers, and guardians." Mirach calmly explained. "Now come along, we have a long journey ahead of us." he turned and beckoned for the children to follow him.

"Wait! Where are we going?" Nasch called.

"To the crimson fortress. It is our headquarters and will be your home. Now come along." Mirach replied and kept walking. The seven ran after him with Sadal bringing up the rear. They walked for a while until the tunnel ended and they walked out into the bright, red light. The children blinked in wonder. All around them was bathed in red glow. There were other colors too, but red was the most prominent one. Alit laughed and dragged the others down a hill. The seven tumbled down. All the children were laughing when they reached the bottom.

"All right. We can have some more fun later. We need to get farther along before nightfall. There's still a long journey ahead." Mirach reminded them. The seven brushed themselves off and climbed back up to follow Mirach.

…...

After a while, Alit posed a question.

"You said you were two of the three elders. Is Bordoc the third?"

Before Mirach could say anything Sadal laughed and said, "Oh, hell no! He is just a janitor. He was assigned to keep the tunnel clean so you wouldn't wake up to a messy cave." Mirach sighed at his companion's lack of tact.

Merag asked a question she had been stewing over for a while, "You keep saying that we 'woke up'. What happened before we emerged from the crystals? I don't remember anything."

The elders looked at each other. "It-it's just an expression. Nothing happened before. You were born inside the baria crystal and emerged when you were old enough to form a coherent thought and move around without help. In short, avoid babyhood." Mirach explained. They dropped the subject and walked in silence for a while. Finally, Dumon broke the silence with another question.

"You said you ruled half of Barian World. Who rules the other half?"

Sadal made a noise of disgust. "King Furad. Dictator more like it. He is a terrible ruler. Knows nothing about managing things and just lounges around self indulging himself. We'd overthrow him but he has a powerful army and is a remarkable fighter himself. But that will change soon-" Mirach muffled Sadal before he said anything more.

"Here's a good spot to spend the night. If we get up early tomorrow, we can make it to the fortress by sunset. But for now let's get some sleep." Mirach hustled the little barians under a crystal overhang while he and Sadal slept next to a large crystal tree. The children attempted to fall asleep for the first time in their lives. They soon were fast asleep, dreaming about knights, kings, princesses, samurai, gladiators, and dragons.


	3. Chapter 3

The seven aliens woke up early the next day. A quick look told them that the elders were still fast asleep.

"Want to explore?" Alit asked the others.

Dumon looked at the sleeping elders. "I don't think they will be happy if they wake up and we are gone..."

"We won't go far. Please Nasch?" Alit begged.

The small, purple barian sighed. "Ok, fine. But nobody gets left behind. We all stay together." Alit squealed for joy and ran over the next hill with the other children following close behind.

"Slow down, Alit!" Gilag gasped. Alit slowed down to a jog and ran back to the others. They had ended up in a field surrounded by crystals. The light refracted from the crystals all over the meadow.

"It's really nice here." Merag stated while turning in a circle. She smiled **(1)** and laughed. Alit joined in, then Nasch. The next thing they knew, everyone was rolling on the ground laughing.

"Well, let's look around." Nasch said while wiping away a tear. The others got up and wandered around the meadow.

"Hey, check this out!" Dumon called. The other children came over to where Dumon was crouched by a stream. Little glowing creatures were swimming around in the river. Misael leaned over and touched a finger into the water. Most of the creatures swam away from him but one jumped up and hit him in the face. Misael lost his balance and fell in the stream. Dumon let out a giggle although he tried to hold it in. Misael grabbed Dumon's hand and yanked him into the river. Misael and Dumon laughed when Alit pushed the others in the stream.

"Yah! Don't do that, Alit! I'm going to kill you!" Vector screamed while scrambling out of the water.

"Are you afraid of water, Vector?" Merag teased the winged child.

"N-NO! I just don't like it." Vector whimpered. Nasch splashed some water on Vector. "Arghh! Please! No!" Vector yelled.

"I thought you said you weren't afraid of water." Nasch grinned.

"OK! YES! I am terrified of water!" Vector started crying.

Nasch and Merag immediately looked remorseful. "I'm sorry, Vector. We were just having some fun." Merag apologized with Nasch nodding in agreement.

"Maybe we should find something else to do." Dumon suggested. The six scrambled out of the water.

Alit's eyes started wandering to another part of the field. "Hey! What are those?" he asked. The others turned to where Alit was pointing. There were small creatures with long ears, small animals with little points sticking out of their fur, and little fluttery things with a narrow body and iridescent wings.

"I don't know... let's check it out!" Gilag ran over to the creatures with Alit and the others following. When they reached the creatures, Merag bent down and started petting one of the long-eared animals.

"Look how cute it is! I think it likes me!" Merag squealed in delight.

Dumon bent down next to her and cautiously petted another create with long ears. "These are interesting. I really wonder what they are. I'll ask Mirach and Sadal later."

Alit was looking cross-eyed at one of the winged things that had landed on his nose. Vector, meanwhile, was hitting an animal with points in its fur with a stick.

"Vector! That's mean! Stop it!" Merag cried.

Dumon looked alarmed. "You shouldn't do that Vector! I think the points might be-" Vector cried out in pain as the animal stuck its needle-like points into him. "-a form of defense." Dumon finished.

The six ran over to Vector. "It hurts! OWWwww!" Vector started crying again.

"Calm down. Just stay still. Merag and Dumon? Can you two start pulling the sharp points out of Vector? Alit and Misael, go get the elders. Gilag, help me hold Vector still." Nasch ordered. The alien children nodded and started doing their orders.

…...

"Yow! That smarted!" Vector yelled through his tears.

"Hold still. This will hurt more if you resist." Merag said while pulling out a quill from Vector's wing.

"Fine. But I- OW!" Vector yelped as Dumon pulled another quill from him. He strained against Nasch and Gilag.

Just then, Alit and Misael ran over the hill followed by the two barian elders. "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!" Sadal yelled.

"Sadal! Language! The children are present!" Mirach rebuked Sadal. "And you." he rounded on the seven children. "What were you thinking running off like that without telling us? When we woke up to find you gone we nearly had a heart attack. Now, what happened to Vector?"

Nasch explained what happened while Mirach listened intently. "Well, at least you showed SOME good judgment when one of your own got hurt." Mirach said. The elder made the others help pull the remaining quills out of Vector. A very sore Vector leaned against Gilag and Nasch while they continued their journey to the crimson fortress. Eventually, Dumon asked Mirach, "We saw a lot of creatures in the meadow. There were tiny glowing thing in the water, animals with long ears like this," Dumon made an imitation of the animals' ears, "the spiked thing that attacked Vector, and little fluttery things. What were they?"

Mirach chuckled. "I keep forgetting how little you know about things. The things you saw in the water are fish, the long-eared animals are rabbits or more commonly called bunnies, the thing that Vector provoked is called a porcupine. As you saw, they can be dangerous when they feel threatened. Many creatures are like that. And the fluttery things are called butterflies. They are often called messengers between worlds because of the myth that they can travel between all worlds."

Dumon's eyes widened. "You mean, there are other worlds beside this one?"

Mirach nodded. "We know of only two others, but we are almost certain of others."

"What are the other two like?" Dumon questioned.

Mirach suddenly looked very uncomfortable. "Well, uh... Astral world is full of bright colors, mostly blue. It's actually very similar to Barian World. We can't go there because we are both worlds of higher energy."

Dumon nodded to show he understood. "And the other world?"

There was no denying it now, Mirach looked like he was about to have a panic attack. "Oh, uh... well... It's called Earth. It's a lower energy world so we can go there but we take lesser forms. You wouldn't like it at all. It's kinda a trash heap. Everything's heavy and sluggish, like how you feel if you haven't gotten enough sleep. And it's not as good as Barian World in almost every way."

"You don't like it much, do you?" Dumon asked.

"No. And you should try to forget about it. The creatures there are weak and you take the form of an earth creature, specifically a human, there. It's a bad place and you should stay far away from it." Mirach said solemnly. Dumon and the other children all nodded.

"Well, here we are! Come and look, kids. This will be your home, school, and playground." Sadal called. The seven raced over to him in order to get their first glimpse of the crimson fortress.

"Oh... Wow." Alit had summed it up pretty well. The crimson fortress was incredible. It looked more like a heavily fortified palace than a fortress. The fortress was made of red crystal that was brighter than the crystals they had passed on the way there. There was a balcony on the top floor and many smaller balconies in other places. The wall around it looked like it could withstand an entire bombardment for 24 hours and still not have a scratch on the perfect red crystal.

"Wow is a good way to put it. Follow me, I'll show you to your rooms. Tomorrow you can meet Hamal, the third elder." Mirach chuckled and led them to the front gate. Two guards were standing on guard duty.

"Halt! Who goes there? Put your hands where we can see them!" One of the guards called.

"Morons! Respond with less impudence when you are expecting your leaders back." Sadal snapped. The guards looked startled.

"Oh! Elder Sadal! Elder Mirach! I am so sorry. My humblest apologies. We did not expect you back for at least another few days." The guards both bowed in submission.

"Our calculations were incorrect. So we are returning earlier than expected. At ease!" Mirach said. The guards stood up and saluted then opened the gate. Mirach and Sadal led the children through. The seven young barians gasped and stared at everything from the crystal trees with blossoms floating to the ground to the carefully crafted pathway. The elders hustled them along through the palace doors, up some stairs, and into a room with seven canoe-shaped crystals.

"Here are your beds and this is your room. Go to sleep." Sadal said then dragged Mirach out of the room and closed the door. The seven looked at each other.

"He does not know the meaning of the word 'subtlety' does he?" Misael said.

"What DOES that word mean?" Alit asked.

"Apparently you don't either. Not surprised." Misael sighed.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Alit yelled.

"Both of you go to bed." Merag dragged the two children over to their beds and shoved them in.

"Hey!" Alit yelped indignantly.

"Just go to sleep." Nasch groaned and lay down in his bed. The children all fell asleep thinking about their first 48 hours of life so far.

**(1) The barian version of a smile since they don't really have mouths.**

**I'll try to update more often but no promises since I have some other stories I want to work on too and homework on top of that. Darned midterms... Well anyhow, read and review.**


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